Front wheel drive motorcycle



Aug. 29, 1933. K. KANAI 1,924,363

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE MOTORCYCLE Filed March 12, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1,

Aug. 29, 1933. K KANA] FRONT WHEEL DRIVE MOTORCYCLE Filed March 12, 1932 '3 Sheets-Shegt 2 if. Kaflaz' I I/ I Au 29, 1933. I K, KAN'A. 1,924,363

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE MOTORCYCLE Filed March 12, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 Patented Aug. 29, 1933 ewes PATENT OFFICE V VFRONT DRIVE MOTORCYCLE U 'Kunzo Kanai, Bosler, Wyo. I v

g Application March 12, 1932. Serial No. 598,466 r. h z Claimsl (c1.1s s1) This invention relates to motorcycles and Figure 6 is a side elevation or the brake, the particularly to motorcycles in which the front axle and sleeves being in section; ,wheel'is used as the driving wheel. Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional View one 'of the objects of this invention is to prothrough the transmission gears and clutch;

F videla motorcycle with a-resilient driving wheel Figure 81s a side elevation of oneform of O fsdlthatthe jars and jolts will not be communicarbureter;. fcated to the engine to the extent that they Figure 9 is an inside elevation of thejbrake;

.would be with a rigid Wheel and will not be com- Figure 10 is a fragmentary elevation of the inunicated to the rider. v clutchucase and gear case showing the clutch .19 "--A"further object in this connection is to prooperating mechanism thereon. a vide a springsuspension for the fuel tank. Referring to these drawings, it will be "seen ATfurther objectis to provide a motorcycle om Figure 1 that y motorcycle h front withi interchangeable frames detachably enframe. connected-to the frontwheel, a main suprgaged with the steering post of the motorcycle porting frame and a rearfwheel-or wheels. The I so that the motorcycle can be convertedfrom ai S pp rt framewhere the machine is ,a -bicycle structure to a tricycle structure and to be used as a motoroperated bicycle or what. thus fitted for carryingveither the driver alone is 0 d 11ar y,,te1mda motorcy Comprises a or thedriver and passengers or a load in place p on u na ly extehdiflgymembers 0 of the passengers. a connected by'crossf braces 11. f The forward ends .1 0 fnnother object is to provide astructure in of these members aregupwardl'y turned as at12 7 which either one or two cylinders to a ieiir and 3 e n w wa from the cycle engine maybe used without changing the W y PO f iQnS 12 to cheer the other transmission mechanism or controlling mecha- 0f t e braces 11. Shorter; braces 13a are also 'nis m, A w v usedconnectingtherside members 12 withthe "A further object is to provide therear wheel Side m m 10 0f the ea I ay -9 of the motorcycle vwith a foot brake while the use 9) tricycle me Which v ly the Sa e front wheel carries eme h d b k shape in side elevation as'the'motorcycle' frame A n th abj t; i t id a t mi and only differs therefrom inthat the rear pormechanism which will secure four speeds fortiOhS 0f the 516Bhiembelt10v a p c 3 were and in 'which the transmission shaftis er distance, ro e .Q e s a o provide formed in two pieces to thus secure the free for two seats'or for a body beihsmqunted running of the engine. and another object in th r ip -Q he. r a Wheel 1 this connection is to provide a driving shaft 4 may b any t e c ion and which is ,disposed ,inside of, the transmission may be eit a pr n w l n o er suit casepandin which the driving 'shaft'drives the able, Wheel; an has t usual m u h' l di tl .7 i upon roller bearings,vthese bearingsbeing car- 1 ther', objects will appear in the course of the i d n p PD in n p v y connected to the frame members 10. The rear following" description.

My i tj is t t g in the a c axle may be suspended beneath the members :10 5 ing d i gs, h i V v I by means of the usual supporting spring shacke, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a motorcycle led to theiftmme at its ends o inmadyxbe.v constructed in accordance with my invention; ported above thpieitiramei e n of Springs Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken havmg their ends shackledwo framei 45 .through the front wheel, the driving and transof course be understood that where.

mission mechanism;

Figui-e' Zai'sa section on the line 2a 2a of Figure 2; i "1 Figure 3 is 'asectional view'through one of torcycle frame is being used; a single rear wheel willbeusedwhereas when the structure is converted into a tricycle, two:wheel s"14 will be used mounted, of course, orlv the same axle The rear Wheel is 'provided witha brake drum 'thc'cylinders of theenginec taken at Tight 16 having ,a brake coacting'therewith and dea v signed to be operated by a foot pedal 107 as reV 4 s a v l sectwnal v w throughv will be later stated}. The forward ends or Izhe'steering fork and allied parts; members 12 are engaged by a goose-neck 17 Fig. 5 is a perspective, fragmentary view of the mounted upon a s1eeve 18 through which the 110 gi m I v n v H v g steering post of thevehicle passes. The steer}- end flanged to be bolted to the hub of a fly wheel 43, this fly wheel in turn being bolted cylinder but ing post comprises an upwardly and rearward 1y extending bolt 19 having a medially disposed portion which is cylindrical in form to fit within the sleeve 18 and at each end beyond this cylindrical portion, this post is square or-many-sided in cross section as at 20, the extremities of this bolt being screw-threaded. A steering head 21 fits upon the upper squared portion of the ,bolt 19, this steering head having the'usual handles 22. This is held in place by a washer and a screw-threaded cap 23. The lower squared end of the bolt is engaged with a square opening in the upper end of the fork 24 held inplace by threads 25 and a nut 26.

Disposed within the fork 24. is the combined driving and steering wheel designated generally 27. This has the usual rubber tire 28, the rim '29, the hub and preferably a plurality of helically coiled resilient spokes 31 operatively connected to the hub and to the rim so that the rim of the wheel is cushioned with relation to the hub' of the wheel and thus all jars to which the wheel is subjected are taken up or cushioned by these spring spokes 31.

In this vehicle, the motor or engine is mounted upon one side of the wheel, the weight of this :motor engine being counter-balanced by the transmission mechanism which is mounted upon the other side of the wheel as illustrated in Figure2.

Extending through the hub'of'the wheel are two concentric sleeves designated 32 and 33. The sleeve 32 extends laterally beyond the sleeve 331 6, beyond the hub and is then formed to provide a fly wheel housing 34 which is bolted to the crankcase designated generally 35, the

cylinder 36 being mounted upon this crank case. I haveonly shown andillustrated one more cylinders might be used. The sleeve. 33 is extended laterally'beyond the one end of the sleeve 32 and is then outwardly extended to form the inner wall 37 of the transmission housing 38, the outer wall of which is designated 39 and mounted against the. outer wall 39 of this transmission housing is a clutch housing 40.

Disposed within the sleeves 32 and 33 is the transmission shaft section 41 formed atone end with a socket 42 or joint and at the other on or. otherwise connected to the crankshaft 44 of the engine. This crank shaft is mounted in suitable bearings in'the crank case of the engine and is provided, of course, with the usual piston 45 operating within the cylinder 36, this cylinder being .closed by a head 47. Preferably the engine is a valve in the head engine, this head being provided with an inlet and outlet valve 48 and 49 and the head being provided with an exhaust port 50 and an inlet port 51 connected as will be later stated to a'suitable manifold The crank shaft 44 is mounted in suitable bearings and projects out at one end through the crank case and is there provided with the usual starting handle 52. The crank shaft carries upon-it the pinion 53'which meshes with the pinion 54 on a cam shaft 55 whereby the valves 48 and 49-are operated, this cam operating a tappet rod 56 in turn operating a tappet 57, one of the tapp'etseohtrollingthe inlet valve and the other the outlet valve; The cylinder is preferablyprovided with fins and is an air it will be understood that two or cooled engine as distinguished from a water cooled engine and, of course, is provided with the usual spark plug.

For the purpose of lubrication, I provide within the crank case the gear pump 58, the driving member. of this gear pump being mounted upon a vertical shaft 59.having aworm wheel at its upper end engageable with worm threads 60 on the shaft 44. The shaft 59 is mounted in a bracket '61. Extending transversely across the crank case is a deck 61a on which oil may be discharged from the pump so as to provide for splash feed.

As before remarked, the shaft section 41 is provided at one end with a socket 42 and engaging this socket is the many-sided end of a transmission shaftsection 62 provided with a shoulder or anchor 62a adjacent'its manysided end. The outer portion of the shaft section 62 fits within a tubular shaft section 63 carrying at one end the drive gear 64. Y

Slidingly mounted upon the shaft section'63 is a sliding gear wheel 65 also havingthereon the smaller diametered gear wheel 66 andthe.

shaft 63 in spaced relation to the gear wheels 65 g and 66 and collar 67 is a collar 70 carrying upon it the gear wheel 7land a clutch member '12,

that is a gear wheel having'exterior teeth. ,A

gear shifting finger 68a engages this collar-70 and is carried by clutch shifting rods 69a.

The extremity of the shaft 62 rotatively engages the end plate 78of a clutchdrum 73 hav-' ing a tubular shaft 74 attached thereto which carries the gear wheel 75. The face of this gear wheel is provided with teeth 76 which may be on the inner face of the gear wheel and which engage with the teeth on: the clutch or gear wheel 72 when the member 72 is shifted into operative contact or engagement with the teeth 76. The tubular shaft 74 is supported in bearings 77, these bearings being, of course, anti-friction bearings. i

" The clutch drum forms part of a friction disk clutch which will be'later described; The shaft 62 drives the anterior member of this clutch which through the disksof the clutch drives the :drum 73 which in turn drives the gear wheel 75. The clutch is, of course, operated bythe usual pedalas will'be later stated.

Disposed parallel to the shaft 62 and 63 i's'a counter shaft 79 mounted in anti-friction bear- Also mounted upon this shaft 85 is a gear wheel I 87 which engages with a gear wheel'88. mounted upon a portion of the hub of the forward; Wheel of the machine.

It will be seen that the power of the engine is transmitted to the shaft 41 and through shaft 41 to the clutch back through the clutch drum 73, to gear wheel 75, thence by gear wheel 84 to the counter-shaft 79, from the counter shaft to the gear wheels 71, 66, and 65-which are of different diameters, thence to the tubular shaft 63 and by way of gear 64 and the idler gear 83 to the counter-shaft gear 86-which through the gear 87 drives the gear wheel 88 directly connected tothe hub of the forward wheel of the machine. By selectively shifting the gear shifting collars by means of the rods 69 and 69a, low speed, second speed or third speed may be secured and when the gear wheel 72*is directly engaged with the gear wheel 75, a fourth or high speed is secured, cutting out the transmission through the counter shaft 79. The shifting of the rods 69 and69a is secured by means of a shaft 89 provided at its upper end with a handle and at its lower end having an arm 90, this shaft having in its length'a universaljoint 89a.

Each rod 69 and 69a is notched at one end and a spring actuateddetent yieldingly-holdsthe rod in any of its shifted positions. The rods 69 and 69a are mounted in supporting brackets 92.

Each rod 69 or 69a has formed on it a socket 90a, these sockets facing the ball on the arm 90 and the ball, when the shaft 89 is raised, engages the socket on the rod 69a. When'the shaft 89a is shifted downward from its 'neutral'position,

the ball on arm 90 will engage in the socket in the rod 69 but thus select thediiferent speed trains to be used. 1

Gear wheel 88 is housed by means of annular plate 93 attached to end wall of the transmission housing and the inner end of this plate being formed with a hollow flange 94 which may be filled with any suitable packing.

Hub 30 is provided upon its inner face with the bushing 95 having a flange at one end.

This flange rests upona tubular shaft 96 which carries the gear wheel 88. The shaft 96 is provided with two annular flanges 97. A brake drum 98 of any suitable character abuts against one of these flanges 97 and has a flange 99 upon which the bushing 95 rests. Bolts 100 passing through the flanges 97, through the flanges on the end of the bushing and through the inner portion of the brake drum clamp the parts together.

Timken or other bearings101 are disposed between the shaft 96 and the sleeve 33 to thus support the shaft and wheel for rotation. As-

sociated with the brake drum 98 is the brake.

supporting plate 102 carrying any suitable or usual brake shoes 103 contracted by the .springs 104 and expanded by means of the expanders 105, these expanders being operatively connected in the road instead of the shock being transmit ted directly up the fork. While I haveillustrata ed this methed of supporting the wheel within the fork, this is no part of my invention and in-' asmuch as it is well-known, I will not describe it in detail. V g I As before stated, the extremity of the shaft 62 is connected to the drivingplate '78 of any usual or suitable clutch. I have illustrated a common form of dry disk clutch including a plurality of driving clutch disks and intermediate driven clutch disks, each of these disks being formed to receive a plurality of keys, the keys,

of the small clutch disks being engaged with a relatively small clutch disk drum while to receive keys uponthe clutch disk drum 73. The shaft of the plate 78 is provided with-the clutch shifting collar 109 with the usual spring,

etc., this clutch shifting collar being operated by means of the clutch, operating shaft 111 having an arm connected by'a rod 112 'to a bell crank 113 as shown in Fig.- 10. This bell crank 112a is connected by means ofthe cable 113 I i .85

which runs over a pulley 114 mounted on the sleeve 18 as shown in Fig. 1. The cable runs down into the interior of the brace 13 and is guided downward through this brace by means ofpulleys 13a as shown in Figure 1 andat its .lower end is connected to a lever 114 mountedon the member 13.

:the remainder of the clutch disksihaving slots .The lever'lli isconnected by a link us to a clutch operating pedal 1164 .The,clutch is, of course, thrown in by the usual spring 109a, and.

a depression of the clutch pedal throws} the clutch out. I donot wish to belimited to the the clutch-inor outf I U i The saddle 117 is mounted upon the frame member 13and is spring, supported. Any-suitable mechanism for this purpose may be used.

particulanmechanism illustrated for throwing The gas tank 118 is supported-upon. a transmis- I sion and motor suspender-119which at its. lower end is connected to the transmission housing and at its upper end is supported by a series of leaf springs 120. This support 119 as shown in Figure 1 is in the form of a yoke contracted to-;

ward its upper end as at 121 to form an eye or loopto which the free end of the uppermost leaf of the series of springs is connected. One of the arms of, this yoke is connected to the transmission case by bolts while the other arm I is bolted to the crank casev by bolts. at its rear end is operatively connected to the steering post as shown in Fig. 4. -It will be understood, of course, that the ports 50 and 51 will be connected to any suitable exhaust and inlet manifolds such as the manifolds shown in Figure 8 wherein the exhaust manifold is designated 122. The inlet .manifold 123 extends longitudinally through an enlargement of the exhaust manifold provided at its lower end with the usual bowl connected by pipe to a'source of kerosene, for instance, and gasoline by Ia three-way valve 125 so that gasoline may be used for startingthe engine and kerosene vaporized by the heat of the exhaust for driving the engine. It is to be understood that the spark and throttle of the carbureter are controlled by a rotatable member on the handle bar as is-usual in 1 motorcycles and that any suitable bearing The spring I means may be used in connection with the rear axle and the front axle. r i 7 Of course, it will be understood that any other suitable carbureter may be used. It will also be.

understood that various modifications might be madein' the details of construction and arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit v of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be seen that I have provided a motor vehicle of the motor car type which is chainless and in which the front wheel is driven directly from the engine, thus permitting the use of either one or two wheels to support the rear end of the motorcycle, thus making the device convertible from a motor-bicycle to a tricycle.

Furthermore, I have so constructed the front wheel that a resilient wheel may be used to thus take up the shocks and jars to which the machine is subjected, particularly by the front wheels striking obstructions and that I balance the engine by the transmission mechanism so that-the engine may be placed on one side of the wheel and the transmission on the other. It

will be seen further that all of the partsv are enclosed. Thus, for instance, the oil pump 58 is disposed within the crank case and the transmission mechanism is disposed within the transthrough the tubular axle, a transmission casing attaohed to theother end of the tubular axle and including'a clutch housing, transmission mechanism including a main shaft, the main shaft and crank shaft having, one, asocket, and the other projecting into said socket,'a countershaft, a driven shaft, the latter being'operatively geared to the traction wheel, 'coacting transmission gears mounted upon the countershaft and mounted loosely-upon the main shaft, and selectively shiftable to secure different speeds and transmit power to the driven shaft, and a, clutch for operatively connecting the main shaft to the counter-shaft. a

2. In a motorcycle, a supporting frame, Ia

forked steering post, connected to said frame for free rotation, a wheel supporting, the rear endof the frame, a front wheel mounted within the forks of the steering post, an engine operatively supported by the steering post on one side of the front Wheel, a-transmi'ssion mechanism operatively supported on the steering; post at theother side of the front wheel, means extending through the hub of the ,wheel for oper-, atively connecting the transmission mechanism tothe engine, means for connecting ,thetrans; mission mechanism to the front wheel, a gas tank disposed above the front wheel, and means for supporting the gas tank including vertical members connected to the housings of the engine, and transmission mechanism at their lower ends extending vertically upward and a multiple leaf spring mounted upon the steering post and at, its forward end; pivotally, connected to said upwardly extending members, the gas tank being mounted upon said upwardly extending members. a

KUNZO KANAI. 

